Portable work support



Jan. 18, 1938. M, M RR TT 2,105,608

PORTABLE WORK SUPPORT Filed Feb. 25, 1936 AWAWZW #c W 0 a, 92

Patented Jan. 18, 1938 UNITED STATES PATET FFICE PORTABLE WORK SUPPORT Application February 25, 1936, Serial No. 65,680

, 2 Claims.

This invention relates to portable work supports of boards or other suitable sheet material for use in putting-out operations upon hides and skins, particularly when said operations are to "5 be followedby drying of the hides or skins in extended condition on the portable work supports. It is to be understood, however, that the invention and various important features thereof may have other applications and uses.

As heretofore constructed, boards for use in putting-out or setting-out operations upon hides and. skins have quite commonly consisted of sheets of a paper composition which have been waterproofed and varnished on both surfaces. These boards are used. in methods which involve the use of paste to secure the adhesion of the skin to the board during the drying operation. They are not suitable for putting-out operations when it is desired to secure the put-out hide or skin to the board by means of fastenings such as tacks or staples, for the reason that the hard varnished surface of the board will turn the points of light staples and for the additional reason that such fastenings as tacks or staples would soon destroy the varnished surface and render it pervious to water and other liquids, in which case the board would quickly deteriorate and become warped. While glass has been used in sheets as material for putting-out work supports, experience has taught that such material is not satisfactory because of its weight and its liability to breakage. While aluminum sheets have met with wider acceptance among tanners, such material is expensive and is apt to color undesirably certain light-colored leathers. Obviously, both glass and aluminum sheets are useful only when the method involves the use of paste as the means for securing the hides or skins in place during the drying operation.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved putting-out and drying board which will be inexpensive to manufacture and to maintain in good condition while at the same time being especially durable even though light fastenings, such as staples, be used as securing means for the work pieces on the boards. It is a further object of the invention to produce a board less liable to injury than other boards and which will make less demands upon the strength and endurance of the worker, due to its relative lightness.

These and other objects and advantages are secured by utilizing plywood as the foundation member of the board, this material having the advantage of resisting warping and other bending forces, due to the different directions of the grain in adjacent plies which together make up the board. To provide a waterproof surface there is secured, to a smooth surface of the plywood, a sheet of material having an oil-treated surface, a layer of a plastic adhesive cement such as latex being utilized to secure the sheet material to the plywood. Conveniently, oilcloth is utilized as the waterproof material since it is a cheap commerical product which presents a waterproof surface upon which a hide or skin may be put out either by hand or by a suitable machine, and with which either paste or fastenings, such as fine staples, may be used to secure the skin against displacement during the subsequent drying oper- 15 ation. The oilcloth provides an especially adhesive surface, so much so that a minimum of paste or of fastenings is required to maintain the skin in extended condition on the drying board during drying thereof. Furthermore, both the oilcloth and the latex cement are readily penetrable by fine fastenings, such as light staple wire, so that it is entirely feasible to use the lightest of wire staples. The openings made by these fastenings appear to close, nearly if not completely, after the removal of a staple, due in part at least to the spreading of the latex cement by blade action during subsequent putting-out operations on pieces of work. At any rate, water and other liquids do not readily penetrate the surface provided by the oilcloth and the latex cement. There is the additional advantage that the boards may be readily reconditioned simply by stripping the old oilcloth from the surface of the plywood and replacing it by another sheet of oilcloth secured by a fresh layer of latex cement. When thus reconditioned the boards are ready for immediate use, whereas aluminum sheets are usually treated chemically prior to use by experts along that line. Furthermore, the prior-art boards of paper composition, which have been reconditioned by sand-papering and revarnishing, may be put in use only after several days have elapsed since they require thorough and careful drying of the varnished surfaces. Since these improved boards may be made of a common grade of plywood covered with ordinary oilcloth to provide the desired waterproof surface, it is clear that there is produced an inexpensive board which may be readily reconditioned and which is exceptionally durable, while at the same time being so light in weight as to minimize the labor required in its manipulation. It is to be understood, however, that some of the advantages of the invention may be secured by utiliz- 55 glue or cement.

ing paperboard as the foundation member and providing it with a waterproof layer of fabric secured by a rubber cement such as latex.

These and other important features of the invention and novel combinations of parts will now -be described in detail in the specification and then pointed out more particularly in the appended claims.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a drying board with a skin spread out thereon; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view along the line II-II of Fig. 1, showing the layers which compose the board.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, which is designed particularly to serve as a support for a hide or skin undergoing putting-out and drying operations, there is provided a plywood board 4 of the three layers 6, 8, NJ, the grain of the layers 6 and ill extending in the same direction and substantially at a right angle to the grain of the intermediate layer 8. The layers of the board are united in the illustrated construction by the use of a substantially water-resistant A plywood board suitable for use in putting-out operations on sheepskins will be about three-eighths of an inch thick and about four by four and a half feet in its width and length dimensions. 7

Secured to one surface of the plywood by means of a latex cement I2 is a layer of oilcloth M with its oil coat exposed. The oilcloth, therefore, provides a waterproof surface to the board. The oilcloth has the additional advantage of providing a surface which is quite adhesive with respect to 2. hide or skin put out thereon. This is true to such an extent that only a small amount of paste is required to secure adhesion of the skin to the board throughout the drying operation. At the same time this surface does not prevent the desired extension of the area of the skin during the putting-out operation. Where fine wire staples are used in place of paste to secure the hide or skin to this board it will be found that but relatively few fastenings are required to maintain the skin against displacement during the drying opera tion.

The layer of latex cement is an important feature ofthe improved putting-out board. It is particularly efficient as a means for securing the waterproof fabric to the foundation piece since it retains its adhesive property during both putting-out operations and during drying operations at temperatures up to 200 F'., nor does it harden but remains soft and plastic so that it is readily penetrable by light wire staples and apparently tends to close openings made by the removal of the staple fastenings. In any case it is a fact that water does not penetrate readily the fine openings made by the wire staples and hence the boards remain in good condition through many months of hard service in the putting-out and drying ofhides and skins. Moreover, this latex J cement is of such a consistency, after months of use, that the fabric layer may be readily stripped from the foundation layer after which a fresh waterproof layer may be applied with the aid of additional latex cement and without the necessity of removing any of the old cement layer. Probably the closing of the staple punctures is due in large part toa spreading action on the layer of plastic cement while the slicker blades are operating to spread a piece of work out on the oilcloth layer. However, this unexpected advantage of the latex layer, together with its resistance to deterioration under the conditions mentioned, make it a most desirable substance as an adhesive layer between the waterproof fabric and the foundation member. Alternatively, an unvulcanized rubber cement of suitable consistency may be used in place of the latex. At the present time there are in the market certain synthetic plastic adhesives having some of the qualities of unvulcanized rubber which may be substituted for the true rubber cements, in securing the waterproof layer to the foundation layer, should they become less expensive to manufacture.

It will be understood, of course, that'if it is desired to secure a skin, like that shown at I6 in Fig. 1 of the drawing, to each side of the board 4 a layer of oilcloth M will 'be' secured to each of the surfaces of said board.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

'1. A drying board for use in putting-out and drying operations upon hides ,or skins comprising a foundation layer of plywood, and an oil-painted layer of a textile fabric cemented to the plywood.

2. A drying board for use in putting-out and drying operations upon hides or skins comprising a foundation layer of plywood, a layer of a plastic adhesive cement, and a layer of oilcloth secured to the plywood by said cement.

MA'I'I'HEW M. MERRITI'. 

